The staff looking after the mental health of Portsmouth’s most vulnerable children in lockdown

Looked-after children in Portsmouth are still getting support from the Portsmouth Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) despite the lockdown restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Andrea Samways, clinical team lead, is just one of the staff who are making sure youngsters with mental health issues and their carers are getting the support they need.

She said: ‘We have had to adapt the way we support our young people and that may be with video calls, video clips and more telephone calls but it has allowed us to be more creative in the way we help them.

Andrea Samway, the clinical lead for Portsmouth CAMHS Looked After Children’s service. Copyright: Other 3rd Party

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‘I think for the older children especially it has helped them open up more as they aren’t in a room with someone and they don’t have to do eye contact so that has been good for them. For the younger ones, where we use more play to help them through the trauma they have been through, then that is harder but our team have been working really hard.’

A young person, who has been helped by the service for a number of years, spoke of how her worker has helped her anxiety in lockdown.

The anonymous female said: ‘My CAMHS worker helps me loads and we talk about my stuff that has happened to me and it kind of helps me make sense of it and why I have mental health issues. When we all went into lockdown I was really anxious and I felt alone but my CAMHS worker is in contact with me and reassured me that she was still going to be there for our sessions.

She sent me stuff to look at and we talked about strategies and techniques. She also helped my foster carer. Although I have not seen her face to face she is always there for me and cares about me and my future.’

Andrea added: ‘In our team we never give up hope with any child and our team have been working really hard to make sure children are still getting the support they need.’

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